


Meeting Summers

by Dorkangel



Series: Just Call Me Dadneto [2]
Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Agebending, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Cherik - Freeform, Dysfunctional Family, Emotionally Constipated Erik, Erik is a Father, M/M, Summers Family Feels, That last tag should be used more often, dadneto, though not many
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 13:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1985292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorkangel/pseuds/Dorkangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the same universe as Meeting Peter, where Charles is the foster parent of Hank, Raven and Peter, Erik is Charles's boyfriend and Peter's dad and Logan is a social worker, Charles gets a new kid to look after. Until he decides to run off and visit his little brother, that is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting Summers

**Author's Note:**

> See last work for notes!  
> Also, there is a kind of hide and seek going on with the plot. As in, the plot is hiding and you have to really, really seek it.

Meeting Summers 

*Three months later*

Moira grinned as she walked past Erik's desk. In the last couple of months, two photo frames had appeared on the previously expressionless, blank surface, and a pile of posters against mutant oppression had been set out - very visibly - at one side. The first photo was of a boy with longish silver hair smiling smugly at the camera, wearing a silver leather jacket and cutely dorky goggles. Erik hadn't specifically announced it, but she assumed that this was his newly discovered teenage son.  
The other photo was a shy, absent looking man in a cardigan, with wavy, shoulder-length, auburn hair and a goatee. His eyes, even through a photo, were startlingly blue. That one, Erik had explained. That was Charles.  
Charles who was Erik's lost son's foster father. Charles who was a genetics professor. Charles who was Erik's boyfriend.  
Erik noticed Moira staring over his shoulder and shifted in his seat so that he was facing her. "What are you doing?"  
She shrugged, suppressing a smile. "Just looking."  
He gave her the slightly-bored-but-prepared-to-kill-you look (as their colleagues had dubbed it) and seemed as though he was about to say something, but then his phone rang and he had to turn to pick it up. "Hello? This is Erik Lehnsherr."  
There was a faint buzz on the other end as the person spoke.  
"Oh. Hello, Charles."  
Moira grinned and leaned closer to listen. Erik didn't say anything for a while, but his entire face slowly grew more and more stormy as the phone call went on. He suddenly did a double take and looked extremely nervous, which, since it was Erik, meant that something really terrifying was happening on the other end.  
"Hold up, Charles, slow down. What do you mean, 'babysitting'?  
Closer now, Moira could hear the voice on the other end replying.  
"I'm not sure if it counts as babysitting when they're seventeen, fifteen and six."  
Erik noticed her and gestured for her to move back, scowling. "What about Logan?"  
The voice murmured something and Erik sighed, running a hand through his hair.  
"Hank's seventeen, come on- well, no, but he's fairly smart. And what makes you think I- Charles, that's not fair. I'm not sure I can make it tonight... No, not at five. How freaking early is Raven's bedtime?"  
Moira reached out quickly and plucked the phone from Erik's grasp.  
"Hello. You must be Charles."  
"Uh..." There was a surprised hesitation as Charles tried to work out what was going on, but then the tea-and-scones accent started up again. "Yes?"  
"My name is Moira, I'm Erik's boss. I just wanted to interrupt and say it's alright, he's free at five. He is now, anyway."  
"Oh! Thank you. I've got a class to teach and my friend, Logan, has got this family business. And to be honest, I don't trust Peter to look after a small child."  
"And you do trust Erik?"  
"Of course!"  
Moira was beginning to understand that deluded look on Charles's face in the photo. She passed the phone back to Erik, who was scowling at her in a way that was, quite frankly, murderous.  
It was alright. She could hear the voice on the other end laughing faintly as she walked away.

When Erik arrived at Charles's house, Hank was already sitting outside, looking a bit dejected. Erik didn't know Hank that well, so he sat down awkwardly next to him.  
"Hello."  
The kid shifted a little and adjusted his glasses. "Hi."  
"What's up?"  
Hank shrugged. "I think Logan's getting a new kid."  
"What?"  
"I mean, you know, to l-live with us..."  
Erik was a bit surprised, but not too much. This was, after all, a foster home. He was still a little shocked that the gruff and brute Logan was actually a children's social worker, but that was a different matter.  
"And?"  
"And I'm kinda too old to be here for much longer."  
Hank pulled a face, shrugging again. Erik frowned a little, but he didn't honestly think that Charles would kick him out, so he got up and went inside. Hank, apparently, had a tendency to get worried over this kind of thing.  
Before he actually opened the door, however, Erik remembered something he had meant to ask Charles.  
"Hank?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Why didn't Charles just leave you in charge?"  
Hank looked faintly embarrassed. "Raven won't listen to me, and Peter just runs off."  
Erik gave a brief snort of laughter and went inside, where a slightly odd looking Logan approached him, giggling.  
"I'm Logan," it said. "I'm smelly and I need a haircut."  
Erik showed the shark grin. "Hi there, Raven."  
'Logan' giggled again and shifted, shrinking down to the normal little blue form.  
"How did you tell?"  
"Well, you said you were smelly, for a start," he said, picking her up. "And secondly, Logan doesn't talk to me. He grunts and farts. That's how he communicates."  
Raven took a minute before she got the joke, and them burst into absolute paroxysms of laughter. Erik rolled his eyes and put her down. Perhaps the word 'communicates' had been a little long for her.  
"Peter?" he called down the hall, thoroughly expecting him to he in the basement. "What are you doing?"  
"Trying to watch TV," came the yelled (but still muffled) answer back. "But the aerial won't adjust."  
Erik held a hand up and moved his index finger slightly left and right.  
"Say when."  
"There! Thanks, Erik."  
He huffed and left Raven to go colour or something, wondering whether Charles actually thought he could cook and, if so, what food there was in the cupboards.  
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much. Peter and Hank both required enormous amounts of nutrients - Peter because he used so much energy running around like that at an incredibly high speed, Hank because... well, just generally his blue form liked to eat meat, and lots of it - in addition to Charles having his mind on higher things, Logan eating out of habit more than necessity (so he didn't remember to buy food), and Raven being six, amounted to a house that was run mainly on takeout pizzas and emergency microwaveable meals picked up from the gas store. Every now and again, like when Erik had first met him, Charles would attempt to cook, but like today, he often had a class and was too busy.  
Frowning at the interior of the fridge, which contained a beetroot and a pot of forsaken looking olives, Erik sighed.  
Peter appeared behind him.  
"Hi."  
Erik jumped but didn't turn around. "You know, that's quite irritating."  
"Yep."  
Erik closed the fridge and faced him. "Peter, I've been meaning to ask someone. What's eating Hank?"  
Peter zipped off to sit on the counter. "What do you mean?"  
"He's sitting outside, said something about a new kid."  
"Oh yeah. He's not really bothered that Charles'll make him move out - I mean, Logan's allowed to live here, right? - but you know like, well, some kids, 'specially foster kids, even mutant ones... Well, they're not always particularly nice to Hank, are they, man?"  
"Oh."   
Peter shrugged and ran over to sit on the table.  
"Hank's a big boy though, isn't he? Surely he can defend himself."  
"Well, yeah, but he doesn't like to. He's a fairly peaceful guy."  
"Hmm."

While all this was happening back at his house, Logan was wandering down the halls of solitary confinement. The man next to him was- well, it was complicated. His name was Victor Creed, and - as it turned out - he was Logan's half brother. This didn't bother Logan particularly a lot anymore, as he'd had hundreds of years to get accustomed to it, but that didn't mean he liked the man. Victor Creed was violent, dangerous and unpredictable, and it was probably a bad thing that he'd chosen to work with children.  
Anyway, he and Logan were there because it turned out one of the prisoners in solitary was only fifteen.  
They stopped outside a cell. "This is the guy." growled Victor. "You sure you can take him, bub?"  
Logan nodded. "Course we can. Got two spare rooms for this kind of thing."  
"No, I mean him specifically. He's in here for reason, you know. He blew up a building."  
Logan took a cigar out of his pocket and messed with it angrily. "Victor, shut the hell up. I read his file, and I think me and Charles and Charles's boyfriend combined can take him. If necessary."  
"Boyfriend?"  
"Shut up."  
"I didn't say a word."  
"Shut up!"  
"Alright." Victor reached forward and opened the door to the cell, revealing a young man sitting on the bed. The boy wasn't bulky, but he certainly was muscled, and he had short, spiky blonde hair. As Logan and Victor came in he looked up sharply to stare at them, shifting so as to be more easily able to fight them, if necessary.  
"Who're you?" he said quickly, a little shakily.  
"Hello." replied Logan, in an oddly cheerful tone. He called it his 'OhshitRaveniscrying' voice.  
"My name is Logan, I'm a social worker."  
The kid looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I'm Alex Summers, although I guess you already knew that." He stood up, giving them a LOOK. "And are you seriously going to do that? Come in and be all like 'this is my first name, we're friends' and then just threaten to drag me off to juvie or something?"  
Logan grinned. A kid who actually saw this for what it was, even if he shone a bit of a negative light on it. "Actually, Logan is my surname. It's James Logan, but no one calls me that."  
Victor grunted. "I do."  
"Shut up, Victor. Thing is, Alex, I'm offering you another chance. Come and live at this foster home - there's three other kids, two teenagers and a toddler - and it'll be fine. Otherwise you can stay in prison."  
Alex didn't look like he much liked Logan's offer, so he continued. "Your mutation wasn't taken into account in your trial, was it?"  
Alex looked at him like he resented it being mentioned. "No."  
"Yeah, didn't think so. The foster-dad, Charles, and his boyfriend, and all three kids - fuck it, I am too. All mutants. It's kind of... specialist."  
Alex gave him a sarcastic look at the word. "Seriously?"  
"Yeah. Best offer, kid."  
Alex hesitated.

Charles was stood in the middle of an almost empty lecture theatre, teaching.  
"-but Darwin's theory only goes so far. He believed that we had already achieved our final state of being, whereas modern resources show mutation happening as early as the Victorian era. Powers, at that time, were volatile and hard to contain, and also apt to develop later in life, which fits to the pattern we see today. Mutants appear to be manifesting earlier and earlier, as we can prove now, for example, this little girl - let's call her Mystique - was born blue."  
He clicked his remote to switch the slide to a photo of Raven on her last birthday, wearing her natural form and laughing.   
A student, Jean Grey, raised her hand to speak, but suddenly Charles's phone rang.  
"Oh gosh, sorry." He hopped off the stage, leaving his (honestly, about eight) students for a moment.  
"Hello, this is Charles Xavier, I'm a little busy- Oh. Well, that's a good thing, right? Look, I'm teaching a class."  
There was a pause as the other guy spoke.  
"Logan, are you driving?"  
Some of the students had to smother giggles.  
"Well, Erik's at home if- no, I didn't ask him to actually cook. Is the new kid in the car with you? Tell him he can have either of the bedrooms and not to scare Raven, I've really got to go. No, seriously, right now."  
Charles put the phone down and flushed embarrassedly at the class, smiling in apology.  
"Sorry about that. It wasn't completely essential, maybe, but it was kind of important. What were we talking about? Oh, right. Jean, were you going to ask a question?"

Alex stood outside the house, holding his few bags and frowning. The curtains were open and he could see two kids - both of them blue - standing in the living room. One of them was standing, anyway. The other, a little girl, was dangling from the ceiling fan.  
"Erik!" yelled the older one, a boy. "Erik, Raven's on the ceiling again! Erik!"  
The girl giggled, and Alex heard an annoyed grunt next to him. It was Logan.  
"Again. She's on the ceiling bloody again."  
Turning away from the scene - where a tallish man had come running in and was now, for some reason, blasting Raven with a fire extinguisher - Alex gave Logan a look that was mainly apprehension. He looked as if he was about to ask if Logan was serious (again), but didn't. He just waited for Logan to pass him and followed him inside.  
"Alright," growled Logan at a shout volume. "Try to look vaguely normal for a couple of minutes."  
"Normal?" said a chirpy voice, and Alex found himself suddenly faced with a teen around his own age, dressed entirely in silver.  
"What's that?"  
The kid cocked his head curiously, Alex scowled, and the kid suddenly moved off so quickly that he was a blur. Literally. That must be his mutation then.  
The kid returned to the hallway, swiging an entire jug of orange juice.  
"I'm Peter, by the way."  
Alex shrugged off his bags. "Alex Summers."  
"So, what can you do? You've seen mine."  
He was talking about mutations. What else could be talking about?  
Alex shrugged. "For all you know, I can't do anything. Just 'normal'."  
"Awh, come on. Everyone who comes here is a mutant. Charles is a mutant. Logan is a mutant. Erik's a mutant."  
"Who're they?"  
"The adults. You've met Logan, and Erik's the guy spraying the little blue girl with the fire extinguisher. Charles is the man in charge. The big man. The boss. El boss-dude."  
Alex rolled his eyes. This kid didn't seem to shut up. Ever.  
"I can shoot lasers from my chest."  
Peter's eyes went wide. "Awesome." he breathed.  
Alex just sort of pulled a face and didn't reply.  
"So, where is El boss-dude?"  
"Who?"  
"You said that, man, not me. Uh... Charles?"  
"Oh yeah, Charles. We call him Professor X."  
"Why?"  
"He's a professor and his last name is Xavier."  
"Oh." There was nothing to say to that. "Anyway, he's teaching a class. About genetics, I think- he's a mutant mutant expert."  
Alex frowned, but Logan appeared out of the living room, followed by an exhausted, tall man who was, presumably, Erik. Erik looked quickly at the scene with a bemused expression.  
"Hello, Alex. I see you've met Peter."  
Peter flashed a grin at Alex and whizzed over to Erik. "Hey, dad."  
Erik winced in mock pain. "Don't call me that. Erik's fine."  
Peter punched him playfully, said "'K." and disappeared. A door down the hall slammed as   
he went through it at lightning speed.  
Logan took another cigar out of his pocket and shoved it into the side of his mouth. "Right. Charles says you can have either of the spare rooms, he don't mind."  
"Alright." Alex didn't appear to mind one way or another, so he led him upstairs.  
"Peter bunks down in the basement," said Logan as they walked, in the manner of a drill sergeant explaining barracks to a new recruit. He had, incidentally, first hand experience in that area.  
"The study and attached bedroom are Professor Xavier's, and private, unless it's important. That's my room- private under all circumstances." Logan paused. "Seriously, don't go in there. Next room along is Hank's, and he's currently bubbling something chemical through hydrogen something-ide. Only come in if you're wearing gloves and goggles. Last one's Raven's; she's the little kid."  
He turned around and looked seriously at Alex. "There's nothing dangerous about Raven except us."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean kid, if you hurt her, at all, we'll hurt you. Got it?"  
Alex nodded. "Seems fair."  
"Right. These are the spare rooms. You can have the attic or that one at the end."  
The attic. He didn't like the sound of that.  
"One at the end looks fine."  
And it had a big window too. Good for an emergency exit.  
"Hmmph. Alright. Unpack your stuff if you want, go downstairs and bother Hank, I don't know."  
Alex nodded hesitantly and waited for Logan to leave. There was a knock on the door and he did; that was presumably Charles.  
Alex sat very still and listened. There were cartoons showing downstairs on T.V., and video games very faintly below him in the basement. It sounded almost normal.

Charles's brain had almost totally filtered out information about Alex at the sight of Raven, covered in carbon foam and watching Tom and Jerry.  
"What happened this time?"  
Hank looked up from where he was siting apologetically. "I'm sorry professor, she got on the ceiling fan again."  
Charles sighed, looking exhausted and disappointed. "Raven, again?"

It was only once Charles had ordered pizza (yet again) that he suddenly realised that their new arrival had not, of yet, shown his face.  
"Where's Alex?"  
Logan froze guiltily. "Oh crap, forgot to get him down. He's upstairs."  
Charles put his fingers to his temples. "...no, he's not."  
"What?!"  
"He's not anywhere in the house, not that I can see."  
Erik looked up sharply. "Peter, check." The speedster stood up and there was a blur as, in the space of two seconds, he ran all the way around the house.  
"No. He's not here."  
Charles ran his fingers through his hair, breathing deeply. "Right, we can handle this. Hank, set up Cerebro. Logan, Peter, get ready to go get him. Raven, go colour in a picture. And, um, Erik - no offence, but go home, ok?"  
Erik nodded, slightly numb, and mumbled "Fair enough." before he actually got up, got his coat, slapped Peter on the back and hesitated by the door. And then followed Charles.   
Charles jogged upstairs frantically, trailed by a confused looking Hank.  
"I think we have to use Cerebro."  
"You know it'd work better if you had less hair-"  
"Don't touch my hair, Hank. Did you see what Alex looked like?"  
"Uh, nope."  
"Right. That helps, then. Do you know what he could do?"  
"Still no, professor. Sorry."  
"It's alright, hardly your fault. Anyway, right, Cerebro-"  
Erik, who was still hanging around behind them, finally spoke up. "I'm sorry, what?"  
Hank jumped, and Charles spun around. "Oh! Erik, it's you. Well, Hank built this machine."  
"To amplify telepathic abilities," said Hank, in his element for once. "And find other mutants. We call it Cerebro."  
"Thing is," said Charles hesitantly. "It's kind of illegal. So don't tell."  
And with that, he walked into his office, leaving Erik flabbergasted (as he often had in the past three months). Hank, for some reason, had already got the remote in his pocket. Charles rolled his eyes and retrieved the wirey-helmet thingy from his closet, knowing better than to ask. Hank's organisation skills both allowed him to lose his keys on a regular basis and often have to be stitched up for walking into the door, but also recite the periodic table by heart and know exactly where the remote for the illegal-mutant-finding-helmet-that-he-probably-shouldn't-have-developed was at all times.  
Erik stood with an eyebrow raised and attempted to keep the German-y sarcasm behind his teeth.  
With a certain amount of sparks jumping everywhere (around Charles's head, should it really be doing that?), the machine began to work, and although Hank and Erik couldn't see it, the surroundings turned dark and filled with people and lights, some near and some far away, brighter and faded.  
He searched quickly with his mind , looking for someone running. Several mutants were, but only one so close, and only one so desperately. But before Charles had a chance to reach out and inform Alex that he was a telepath and therefore knew exactly where he was, the teenager skidded to a halt outside what looked like some sort of institute - it was filled with the minds of sleeping children: an orphanage - and ran up to one of the windows, knocking frantically.  
The window was opened after a brief minute's hesitation by a very young boy, maybe seven or eight, who wore tinted glasses despite the dark. To Charles's surprise, the kid shone through Cerebro's vision. Another mutant then.  
"Alex!" yelped the boy. "What're you doing here?"  
Alex smiled exhaustedly. "Aren't you glad to see me, Scotty?" The boy bit his lip and grinned. "Yeah, 'course I am." He suddenly frowned. "Alex, you're not in prison! Did you escape?"  
Alex shook his head. "Nah, they let me out so long as I hang around where I'm supposed to and behave."  
Scott, being a small child, clearly didn't see that that was exactly what Alex was failing to do. "Awesome!"  
"Yeah, I guess. So, you gonna get your stuff and come with me, Scotty?"  
Charles decided that was quite far enough, and dove into both their minds, incidentally hearing the word 'brother' repeated. That would explain a lot.  
'Actually, it'd be best if Alex came home.' He said calmly, if a bit apologetically. 'Although Scott can come too, if no one'll miss him for the next couple of hours. Until we can sort it out, that is.'

Back in his office, he had said it out loud. Hank and Erik had heard him, which was quite confusing for them, as they had very little idea what he was talking about.

"Get out of my head!" yelled Alex, and Scott jumped. Charles sighed. 'Is that a 'no' then? Are you not coming?'  
"None of your business," snarled Alex. "Leave us alone!"  
'If you insist," said Charles, half-joking. 'Then I will leave you alone. But my associates won't. Awfully sorry about this whole business, by the way. Hope we can work something out.'  
He drew back quickly from their minds, breathing deeply, and turned shakily to face Erik and Hank.  
"Mr. Summers doesn't seem to feel like cooperating. And neither does his brother."  
They looked at him in confusion and he elaborated. "His LITTLE brother. Whom he snuck out to visit."  
Hank nodded, making a silent 'oh' , while Erik just moved towards the door. "I'll call Peter and Logan then, shall I?"  
"Right, fantastic," said Charles. "He's at the St. Anthony Institute for Children Lacking in the Familial Department."  
"The Saint Who What Now?"  
"An orphanage just in town."  
"...right."  
Erik jogged downstairs, where Peter had basically just put his goggles over his eyes and was bouncing up and down with the effort of staying put, and Logan was chomping moodily on a cigar.  
"...just keep still, will you, kid?" Logan was saying. "It's hardly Black Ops, is it? We're just grabbing this guy and coming home."  
Peter grinned. "Can't keep still, man. Don't want to. If I'm about to run, I might as well run, right? C'mon dude, it's more fun like this-"  
Erik cut him off before Peter continued talking. The teenager had, after some practice, mastered the art of talking at a normal speed. Just not when he was excited. Logan, despite knowing Peter longer than Erik had - which still stung, to be honest - had very little tolerance for this, and his claws were already out.  
"He's at the St. Anthony institute or something. Know where that is?"  
Logan nodded. "Sure do. That all we need to know, bub?"  
Erik shook his head. "There's a little kid with him too: his brother. Charles wants you to bring him as well."  
Logan frowned but Peter just nodded. This was the kind of thing he didn't care about; he was a kleptomaniac. He'd steal kids as well as he'd steal anything, so long as he didn't pause to think about the morals.  
He put a hand out and grabbed the back of Logan's head.  
"What are you doing?" asked Erik, and Peter's grin only widened. "I'm holding his neck some doesn't get whiplash."  
"What?"  
"Whiiiiip-laaaash."  
And with that, Peter started running and disappeared. Erik closed his eyes for a moment to keep the look of surprise off his face, and was about to go back to Charles and Hank when he was caught sideways by a blue limpet. "Oof!" he chuckled. "Hello again, Raven."  
She just cling tighter to his legs and he sighed. "Sometimes I wonder who I'm here for, I really do. Come on then, I suppose you want to colour a picture or play Lego"  
She nodded.  
"Alright."

Meanwhile, Logan's world was passing by in a blur of grey and red as Peter sped through the middle of the city and the buildings and back lights of the cars melded. He closed his eyes and tried to swallow his nausea, waiting until the world stopped zooming and started spinning, which was usually an indicator that Peter had stopped. Or was pirouetting, although after what Logan had done to him last time, he hadn't tried for a repeat.  
"We there?" he grunted, hesitantly opening his eyes to a distorted world.  
"We're where the prof told us to go."  
Logan closed his eyes and concentrated, hearing Charles's voice in his head. 'You certainly are at St. Anthony's, but Alex and Scott aren't.'  
"Then where are they? And wait, who's Scott?"  
'Alex's brother. They're running towards the gas store. You should know it; it's the one Peter keeps nicking the twinkies from.'  
"Right."  
Logan turned back to the teenager, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet, unable to keep still. Adrenaline rushes can be bad for anyone, but for Peter, they were unbearable.  
"Come on, speedy," he growled, half-sympathetically. "We're going to that store you like."   
Peter's eyes couldn't settle on anything, but he was looking mostly around and at Logan's face, so that was close enough.  
"Why?"  
"That's where they are, dummy. Come on."  
Peter zoomed forward, grabbing Logan as he went, and they were at the store in a matter of seconds.  
Peter did two laps of the place, then returned, shaking his head. "No one's here, man."  
"They'll probably be here in a second. Calm down, will you?"  
Peter scowled with the effort and resumed bouncing on the spot, but within moments Logan noticed the rapid, disjointed sound of running footsteps. "They're coming."  
"So, what? What do we do? Grab them or-"  
"Reason with 'em first, Peter."  
Peter nodded a little too quickly, and took his place standing obediently still next to Logan.

Alex and Scott rounded the corner towards the gas store, running frantically and glancing behind them. They certainly looked guilty; Alex with his scruffy jeans and hoodie, pulling along a little kid in pyjamas and dark sunglasses he could barely see through.  
Logan stepped out of the shadows so he was right in front of them, a vaguely apologetic look on his face.  
"Sorry, kid," he growled. "This is the problem from trying to run off from a telepath."  
The little kid hanging on to Alex's hand looked frightened and tried to hide behind his older brother.   
"Listen," said Alex, clearly looking for a way out, like a cornered animal determined to fight. "We don't want any trouble."  
Logan shrugged. "Tough. Look, the prof. says your brother can come too, but you're going to have to come back to the house. You're technically violating the terms of your probation."  
At the reminder of his prison sentence, Alex bristled.  
"Does it look like I-"  
"Alex," whispered the younger boy, tugging on the teenager's sleeve. "Don't. Don't go back to prison."  
Alex's gaze softened and he turned back to Logan with a little less defiance in his eyes. "I'll come with you, but only if Scott can come too. I'm not leaving him again."  
Logan watched them thoughtfully for a moment, his own tense relationship with his brother flashing before his eyes. Eventually he shrugged again.  
"None of my business; it's Charles's decision."  
He took a step back and looked around for Quicksilver.  
"Peter!"  
There was a flash and Peter ran over to them, panting slightly. He must have REALLY been working off steam to be out of breath.  
"Huh? Oh. Hello." He smiled his usual smug smile at Alex and Scott.  
"Who am I taking? I can only take one or two, man. I've only got two arms. Three's a bit many. Little kid going home or you walking?"  
Logan sighed. "I'll walk." Peter nodded and snapped over to the Summers brothers, and Scott started and hid behind Alex again.  
"I'm Peter." he said to Scott, leaning to the left so he could see behind Alex's legs. "I can move really quick, so I'm going to give you a lift home."  
Peter frowned for a moment. "What's with the sunglasses, dude? Isn't it dark?"  
Scott shook his head shyly and Alex scowled in what was his approximation of friendly. "It's his mutation. I can shoot lasers out of his chest, and he can shoot lasers out of his eyes."  
Scott looked up, panicked, to see Peter's face at his mutation being mentioned. Alex had told him never to mention either of their powers, or people would do bad things. Alex's mutation had got him put in prison, after all.  
Peter, however, just grinned. "That's... awesome."  
A smile slowly spread over Scott's face. Anyone who thought his powers were awesome was clearly the kind of person you could trust.  
"Right, come here."  
Peter put an arm around both their shoulders, cradling their necks as usual, while Logan lit a cigar. "See you, Logan."  
"Where are we going?" asked Scott, confused. Peter just kept smiling. "Home. Close your eyes."  
"Why do I need to-"  
Peter ran off and the three of them disappeared in a blur.  
Logan scowled. That goddam speedster had not only left him to walk the entire way, he'd also extinguished his cigar with that slipstream of his.

Erik watched Charles operate Cerebro with silent fascination, listening carefully to the words he occasionally spoke and watching Charles's eyes flicker over situations that he himself was blind to.  
Eventually, the young professor sighed, relieved, and removed the helmet.  
"They're on their way."  
Hank took over the running of the machine while Charles went over to Erik and the two of them hugged.  
"Does this sort of thing happen often?" asked Erik. Charles chuckled. "No. Peter did run off a couple of times at first, but we didn't have Cerebro back then."  
Erik frowned. "How old was he? At first, I mean."  
"Eight. And he'd already been in and out of the system, poor thing." Charles noticed the look on his face, and sent Erik a disapproving head-tilt. "Now, don't give me that. It wasn't your fault."  
"Who else's fault could it be? If I'd just-"  
Charles pouted slightly. And, Erik thought, adorably.  
"Listen, his mother didn't get in touch with you. I'm pretty sure she could have, if she wanted to."  
"But what if there are siblings? More mini-Lehnshers."  
Charles shrugged. "I think his mother has another daughter."  
Erik's eyebrows shot up in surprise.  
"You don't understand though. When Peter's abilities manifested - he was five - she abandoned him, said she couldn't keep up with him. They don't speak to each other."  
"Oh."  
"So it's hardly your fault he's in the system. If he wasn't, you probably never would have met him, after all." Charles paused shyly. "Or me."  
Erik kissed him lightly, nothing more than a brush of one man's lips over the other's.  
"Well, I would certainly regret not meeting you."  
Hank coughed and they drifted apart guiltily, well aware that they had been ignoring the boy.  
"Uh, professor?"  
"What is it?"  
"Where's Raven?"  
Charles's eyes went very wide. "Oh crap."

Peter arrived at the door as what looked like Erik was attempting to leave. Alex threw Peter's arm off his shoulder immediately, stumbling away and attempting not to vomit, whereas Scott spun around dizzily a couple of times and yelled "That was fantastic!" at the top of his voice.  
Peter smiled at the appreciation of his gifts.  
"If Xavier wouldn't skin me I'd take you around the block a couple of times, kid. Hey, Dadneto-" he called, turning to the Erik lookalike, and gaining a giggle from it.   
"Is Magneto, not Dadneto!"  
"He's my dad, I can call him Magneto. Now, Raven, where are you going?"  
She sighed and flickered back to herself. "Peter! You're so boring. I just wanted to-"  
"Steal Erik's car, I know."  
Noticing that behind them Alex had scooped the wide-eyed Scott in his arms, Raven jumped at Peter, trusting his lightning speed reactions to give him time to catch her.  
They walked inside together like that, in identical positions. First Peter carrying Raven, smiling, and then Alex carrying Scott, scowling. As they walked inside, Charles and Erik - Charles from the living room, Erik from the kitchen, which were opposite each other - both nearly crashed into them, each looking slightly frantic.  
"Oh!" said Charles. "There you are, Peter. Hello, Alex, Scott. Listen, has anyone seen Raven, we think she might have taken another form and it's extraordinarily hard to trace a six year old's mind- Oh, right. You're there, Raven."  
Erik face-palmed. "Charles, the-"  
"Yes! Yes, Summers brothers, right. Sorry. Um, come with me, please."  
Alex hesitated, glancing around, but then did. There was no point running.  
Erik finally allowed himself to relax, turning to Peter. "What time is it?"  
"Half past eleven."  
Erik nodded. "Feels like it. Listen, I've got a meeting tomorrow. Are you alright to supervise Raven?"  
Peter grinned and nodded. "Sure. See you, dad."  
"Please call me Erik."  
"I know that, it's deliberate."  
He rolled his eyes. "Goodbye then."  
"Bye."  
Erik jogged out of the house and back to his car before Charles could telepathically catch him and ask him to help out with something else.  
It seemed the family he'd become part of had two new members, and that was a good thing. Probably. Where the little one was concerned, anyway, and at least Raven would have a playmate her own age.  
And he'd have an excuse for Moira tomorrow when she asked why he had fallen asleep during the meeting.  
He subconsciously wondered how long it would be before Charles could get Alex to babysit so that he didn't have to.


End file.
